Londonist Live: Muse at Wembley Stadium

Never ones for being the most talkative on stage, Muse played the first night of their two night stand at the new Wembley Stadium with few words to the audience. This was more than made up for however, by the enthusiastic set full of surprises. If you’re going to the Sunday Muse gig I’d strongly suggest not reading the rest of this review if you want to keep it all a surprise.

Going back to the start however and Rodrigo Y Gabriella surprised many in the audience who had slated their unique brand of Mexican acoustic guitars to not work in a stadium. However work they did as they perhaps managed to out-perform Dirty Pretty Things who followed them up, putting in a decidedly average performance, playing lots of new material and seemed to get the crowd going less than Rodrigo Y Gabriella did.

The last support was The Streets who managed to get everyone going perfectly, creating a bit of a party atmosphere as he confided in the 90,000 strong crowd that he has a yearning to be like Freddie Mercury, leading to a mass sing-along. Wheeling out all of his well known material, he did a storming job of warming everyone up, however did manage to jinx it my proclaiming that “there definitely won’t be any rain” – come the second half of Muse’s set, rain it does.

Finally the time came for what we’d all paid for. Muse. Set amongst a futuristic stage of Satellite Dishes, giant light-up balloons and a video screen that makes your brand new top of the range plasma look like something your Gran should own, they really had outdone themselves with the set. Twenty minutes late the stage lights dim and searchlights go round. Smoke oozes out and yet no Muse. Instead, they arrive from the back of the sound stage in the centre of the stadium, in a blast of tickertape that is still coming down four songs in.

Walking through the walkway set in the middle of the standing area, they reach the stage, immediately launching into “Knights of Cydonia” and “Hysteria”, which got everyone going nicely before launching into “Supermassive Blackhole”, sending those in the crowd not already going ape over the edge. Dominic Howard, Muse’s drummer, was the most talkative, commenting “It looks like you're having fun, I know we are!”

Playing all of the old favourites, Muse managed to squeeze 22 songs into their two hour set, finishing their main set with an extended version of “Newborn”. However, the best was saved for the encore. “Soldier's Poem” was dedicated to "unsung heroes", and featured a stadium full of people holding phones aloft before a dreamy rendition of “Blackout”, which featured two acrobats suspended by giant white balloons soaring above the crowd for possibly one of the most beautiful moments to be seen so far at Wembley. All attention was off the lads as the two acrobats flipped and twirled with grace and beauty, with the music providing the perfect soundtrack.

“Plug in Baby” was the last all-out energy filled number for many people, complete with tens of huge balloons filled with glitter floating around the stadium. Final encore was saved for the epic trio of “Micro Cuts”, “Stockholm Syndrome” and “Take A Bow”, all of which were, well, amazing, ending in a bout of fire and glitter that would make many lesser artists quiver in their boots.

After such an epic evening it’s easy to see how Muse could sell out Wembley twice. Theatrical, amazing musical talent and all out entertainers. The future of Rock? I think so.

Oh my God. And I was there two months ago :-(I can imagine how was this show...whatever!

Lindsey

I was there too, at the back of the stadium and was all excited, warmed up by The Streets. Then Muse came on and delivered a great set, a great show... but I felt too far away.. there wasn't any atmosphere back ther. Mr Bellamy was 1.5 cm tall when I could spot him. Since I watched everything on the screens anyway, I really felt that I'd have been better off watching it on telly at home. Still, that Wembley is dead smart these days.

Mark Kobayashi-Hillary

Agree with the comments on DPT and Streets. Mike Skinner did a great warm-up. He should have done a complete cover of Radio Ga Ga, rather than breaking into little snips every 5 minutes though! Muse were just stunning.. I captured the entrance and 'Cydonia' on my phone - on youtube now...

Talia

Sounds ace. Was it in the round? I saw them at a tiny gig in Wolverhampton in 2001 and they were brill then!

Julie

We came all the way from Amsterdam to see this show last Saturday. It was really amazing! I loved every minute of the evening and I think Wembley is Beautiful. We sat quite near te stage but well....mr. Bellamy being short annyway...we were happy to bring our binoculars! Hahahaha! But it was absolutely fantastic!!!

????

There's so many spelling and gramatical mistakes in this what dummy wrote this? Anyway I went to the Sunday gig and was right at the front centre of the pit. Lots of moshing, crowd surfing and shoving. Was good. Muse rule!

kim baker

i went to the sunday concert supported by shy child, biffy clyro and mcr, with my mum and stepdad. i met my 2 friends there, too. it was absoloutly amazing and its made me want to see them again! i already saw mcr at download the weekend before, and they were good both times i saw them. i especially liiked the people swinging from balloons :D one word...AMAZING!!xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rob

"There's so many spelling and gramatical mistakes in this what dummy wrote this? Anyway I went to the Sunday gig and was right at the front centre of the pit. Lots of moshing, crowd surfing and shoving. Was good. Muse rule!"

Ironic that you should then spell 'grammatical' wrongly, and then use 'what dummy wrote this'...a nice little grammatical error there.

Personally, I think its a good piece, descriptive and to the point, I was at both concerts and it describes the whole concert perfectly.

Josh

I was in the golden circle! :D

After having seen Muse perform Wembley arena in November 2006, i was filled with excitement about seeing my favourite band, and the best live act around, performing in such a high stadium. I was, however, rather nervous, scared that nothing could live up to either my expectations or their previous performances.

I'm sorry i ever doubted them. Muse were absolutely fantastic! It was in all seriousness the best night of my life, the set was awesome, the sound great, the stunts terrific and the crowd immense! Immediately fired up by the opener "Knights of Cydonia" i was singing, dancing and bouncing for the next two hours with only the briefest of respite before the two stunning encores, culminating in the wonderful "Take a Bow".

(I helped burst a giant balloon!)

guest

went to saturday, bit sad to be sitting as in retrospect, an awesome crowd, dunno what thet '????' is on about!